


Follow the Yellow Brick Road

by LtLJ



Category: Angel: the Series, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Genre: Action/Adventure, Character of Color, Crossover, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-09-05
Updated: 2002-09-05
Packaged: 2017-10-02 14:31:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LtLJ/pseuds/LtLJ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hunting for a marauding shapechanger, Hercules and Iolaus run into some side-tracked travellers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Follow the Yellow Brick Road

The convertible burst through the vortex into sunlight and air. Cordelia's first thought was that they had screwed up the spell and landed back in Pylea. Then she registered the open valley, the hills around it heavy with emerald green forest that rose up into rocky gray mountains, the sweep of meadow dotted with little yellow and white flowers swaying in the gentle breeze, the brilliant blue of the sky. _No way this is Pylea_, she decided, blinking at the bright afternoon sun as the car rolled to a stop in the grass. The light, the sky of that world had been different, not quite right. Something in this sun, the green of the trees, all said Earth with a capital E. Then she thought, _Angel. Sunlight_. _ Holy crap_.

As the engine sputtered to a halt, Cordelia yelled incoherently, throwing herself across Fred and trying to reach Angel in the driver's seat. Everybody else must have twigged at the same time as she had because Wesley, Lorne, and Gunn were all shouting conflicting instructions from the back seat; only Fred was silent, balling herself up into a fetal position so Cordelia could get past her.

Cordelia scrambled up to her knees on the seat with some idea of shielding Angel with her body until he could get his coat over his head. There was sure no part of her Pylean Queen outfit big enough to pull off and throw over him. But he wasn't bursting into flame or even smoldering. He leaned over the steering wheel, coughing and gasping.

Gunn and Wesley bailed out of the back seat, Gunn reaching the driver's side door first and wrenching it open. Angel tumbled out, rolling in the grass. Cordelia launched herself over Fred and out after him.

After a minute of confusion as she tried to wrestle his coat up she realized that he was actually struggling to get away from her and still hadn't burst into flame. Wesley hauled her out of the way, knelt in front of Angel and demanded, "What's happening?"

Angel sat up, grabbed his throat and said, "I can breathe."

"Quick, do CPR!" Cordelia ordered, then processed what he had said. "Wait, what?" She exchanged a baffled look with Gunn, who asked, "And the downside of that is?"

"No, I mean I need to breathe. I'm breathing." Angel waved urgently.

She stooped to look at his face. He was flushed. Angel didn't get flushed, not having the blood to flush with.

Wesley pushed Angel's hands away and felt for the pulse at his throat. _Or the lack of pulse_, Cordelia corrected herself. Then she saw Wesley's expression change from concern to astonishment. "His heart's beating," Wesley said, stunned.

"That's new, to say the least," Lorne commented, crouching down so he was eye level with Angel. "How do you feel?"

Angel looked from him to Wesley, then up at Gunn and Cordelia, the shock on his face fading to a kind of cautious, almost painful delight. "Great," he said, slowly starting to smile. "Alive. This isn't like what happened in Pylea. I'm alive."

They all took a moment to absorb that in silence. Cordelia shook her head, trying to take it all in. In Pylea, the natural laws had been so different that vampires could go out in daylight, see themselves in mirrors, and other things they couldn't normally do. The downside had been that when Angel put on his Game Face, the demon had come out to play. _But this is home_, Cordelia thought in protest. She was sure of it. "Okay. So, two questions. How? And more importantly, how the hell?"

Everyone looked at Wesley, who got to his feet, slowly shaking his head. As an ex-Watcher, resident research expert, magic and demon-knowledge guy, and now head of Angel Investigations, he should know. "I...have absolutely no idea."

"Allrighty." Lorne sat back on his heels. He looked even more out of place than the black convertible; this just didn't seem like the right setting for a green guy with horns wearing a stylish red lounge suit. "Now that we've established that we don't have a clue what's happened, let's establish that we don't have a clue where we are."

Fred said in a small voice, "Not home." Temporarily forgotten, she was still huddled in the front seat. Wearing the short white shift that had replaced the standard burlap sack of Pylean slave wear, her long dark hair hanging like a curtain and her eyes huge in her pale face, she looked like a lost child.

"But this has got to be home," Cordelia protested, then looked around, really focussing on their surroundings. The nearest edge of the forest, about a hundred yards away where the ground started to slope up into the hilly area below the mountains, was a thick mass of pines, normal-looking trees, and large ferny things. She took a deep breath and the air was clean and pure, nothing in it but growing plants and damp earth. It struck a chord of memory somewhere in her head, but she couldn't quite pin it down. It was pleasantly warm but didn't look like California, and the place obviously got way more rainfall than anywhere around LA. _And_, she frowned down at Angel, _there's the whole lack of spontaneous combustion for vampires_. "So it's not LA. But it's not Pylea."

"And let's have a big 'yay' for that." Lorne got to his feet, shading his eyes to look around. Nobody was more happy to be leaving Lorne's home dimension than Lorne, except maybe Fred. "The scenery is to die for. Not literally, I hope," he added with a trace of unease.

"Fantastic," Cordelia muttered. She hadn't thought about that yet. Pylea had been rough enough at first; she wasn't eager to go through that again any time soon.

"So we know where we're not." Gunn's eyes narrowed as he surveyed the hills. Growing up hunting vampires and demons on the streets of south side LA, he was as out of place here as Lorne, though he seemed less concerned by it. "So where are we?" he demanded. Again, they all looked at Wesley.

His mouth twisted ruefully, he shook his head. "I have no idea."

***

They could hear the thing somewhere up the hill above them, tearing through the forest, the crunch of branches and crushed saplings telling them where it was through the bulk of the concealing stands of trees. It was starting to drive Iolaus crazy.

He swore under his breath. "It's herding us." They were crouched in damp concealment at the base of a large tree, the roots as big around as pillars. The forest floor was broken by rocky outcrops covered with lichen and the light was a shadowy green, occasional patches of dappled sunlight appearing as wind shifted the branches.

Crouched next to him, Hercules nodded grimly. "I know."

"You knew?" Iolaus sounded accusing mostly because he hadn't eaten all day. They had run out of travel rations and chasing and being chased by this creature had left them no time for hunting. "Why didn't you say something?"

Hercules shrugged absently, still frowning as he looked upslope, watching for movement among the pines at the top of the rise. "There's nothing we can do about it."

Iolaus expelled a breath in frustration. He was right about that.

From up the hill a distant voice echoed, deep and richly female, with a roughness to it like raw silk. "Run, run, I know you're down there." There was a crack of branches breaking, and it added, amused, "You smell like food."

Hercules snorted in exasperation. Keeping his voice low, he said, "Why do these things always have to be so damn talkative?"

Iolaus shook his head wearily. "Maybe it's trying to trick us into attacking it just to shut it up." He bit his lip, considering. "So it wants us down in that little valley."

Hercules nodded again, this time glumly. "Looks that way."

"Why?"

"I don't know." Hercules gave him the look that meant "I'm only a demigod, give me a break." It was a nice contrast to the "I am a demigod, you could listen to me occasionally" look. "It's got something down there. We have to find out what it is."

Iolaus ran a hand over his face. He didn't like the idea of that unknown "something." And he knew Hercules was badly worried and that didn't make the situation any more fun. "Right."

Hercules eased to his feet, stepping cautiously out of concealment, and Iolaus followed, careful not to let the dead leaves crunch underfoot. He had his sword and much-depleted quiver slung over his shoulder and was carrying his bow; Hercules had both their packs, not that there was much of use left in them. _If we'd known it was a damn shapeshifter we could've brought more supplies,_ Iolaus thought irrelevantly, slipping from the cover of one trunk to another as the creature slammed through a stand of trees somewhere uphill.

"I know you can hear me," the shapeshifter purred above them. "It's only a game, I won't really eat you. Not right away."

The creature had disguised itself as a marauding giant, killing villagers in the valleys below to attract their attention, then luring them far up here into the Arcadian Mountains. They had faced something like this only once before, not long after Iolaus had been brought back to life the last time, and it had almost turned both of them into chew toys. The things came through the blue swirly doorways from some other world and people were their favorite prey. They were stronger than Titans, faster than Apollo's chariot, and so mean they made Ares look downright reasonable; that combined with a cunning intelligence that most monsters lacked made them daunting opponents. The last one they had faced had come here by accident looking for mortals to eat. This one, unfortunately, seemed to have some kind of plan.

The crashing above cut off abruptly and Iolaus froze in place, one foot half-lifted to take the next step. He glanced worriedly at Hercules to see the demigod also motionless, his face set in a grimace as he waited for the creature's next move. The damn thing had great hearing, too.

The silence stretched, made near absolute by the lack of birdsong as all the inhabitants of these woods huddled in breathless suspense. Hercules looked at Iolaus, brows lifted, his expression asking if Iolaus thought the shapeshifter had heard them. Iolaus shook his head slightly. If it had heard them, the thing would have--

Above their heads a rustling hiss broke the silence and tree trunks snapped as something huge lunged downhill. "Great," Hercules said under his breath and Iolaus rolled his eyes, then they both plunged through the trees, running for their lives.

Pounding downslope, leaping over rocky outcrops, crashing through the underbrush, Iolaus shot a glance back. He got a heartbeat's view of a giant powerful yellow-gray body, winding snake-like through the trees, with a head like an exotic evil flower.

The trees fell away into bright sunlight and just ahead Hercules slid to an abrupt halt. Iolaus fetched up beside him, swearing. They stood on the edge of a wide rocky gorge cutting through the hillside. "Uh oh," Hercules muttered in a grim tone.

Nearly twenty feet across, the sides were a sheer drop down to a winding stream nearly fifty feet below. "Son of a bacchae!" Iolaus leaned to look over the edge. They could climb down, maybe dodge along the bottom--

Then Hercules said, "Brace yourself," and grabbed him around the waist.

"What?" Startled, Iolaus felt his feet leave the ground. "Oh no--" That was all he had time for before he was in the air.

Iolaus landed on the far side in a roll to absorb the impact, sliding down in the dirt and gravel. He bounced to his feet to see Hercules, not having time to back up for enough of a running start, launch himself off the far side.

"Dammit, he's not going to--" Iolaus scrambled back up to the edge of the gorge as Hercules landed short, the dirt grumbling under his hands, and went sliding down the side. He flung himself forward, grabbing one flailing arm in time to halt his friend's downward plunge. He held on grimly, digging his feet in as Hercules managed to get a solid grip and heave himself up. They tumbled back from the edge, landing in a heap. Iolaus struggled out from under Hercules, saying, "I hate it when you throw me!"

"I know, sorry," Hercules gasped, staggering to his feet. On the other side of the gorge the shapeshifter snarled in rage and leapt into the air, a new set reptilian wings and clawed hands growing out of its snake body. "Come on!"

***

"You know, if it wasn't for Angel growing a pulse," Gunn said thoughtfully, "I'd say we just missed the exit and ended up somewhere further north, in Oregon or Washington. This place has that intense green, mountainy kind of thing going for it."

"Yes, it does," Wesley agreed as they moved through the lush forest of ferns, giant hardwoods and pines. Bright early afternoon sunlight streamed through the high green canopy of the treetops. Since they had to wait until the interdimensional hotspot in the area could recharge before they attempted to open another portal, they had decided to split up to reconnoiter. Cordelia and Lorne were climbing the low hill at the edge of the opposite side of the meadow to get a look around and Wesley and Gunn were making their way into the forest to do the same. Since they had no idea yet what this abrupt transformation would mean to Angel, Wesley had insisted he remain near the car with Fred. "It rather reminds me of New Zealand."

Gunn had taken a battle ax from the store of weapons in the car's trunk and carried it casually propped on his shoulder, making him look like the black version of Little John in a post-modern production of Robin Hood. His expression serious, he said, "Tell me, English, you really got no clue why Angel is suddenly among the living again?"

Wesley knew Gunn still considered working with Angel to be something of a compromise against his moral integrity, even though Angel had a soul. Since Gunn had spent so much of his life fighting the vampires that preyed on the poorer districts of the city, Wesley completely understood. And in light of Angel's behavior over the past few months before finally returning to the agency, and the physical revelation of Angel's demon in Pylea, Gunn's attitude seemed nothing but reasonable pragmatism. "It could be an effect of this world's laws of nature, similar to what occurred in Pylea. But I really have no idea," Wesley admitted, pushing up the sleeves of his sweater.

"You been saying that a lot since we got here."

Wesley chose to ignore that, since it was true. "But if this world has truly made him fully human, it's extraordinary. I've never heard of anything like it. It might have something to do with why we ended up here, rather than back home." He frowned absently. "Or it might not."

"Well, that's helpful," Gunn said under his breath.

Wesley ignored that too, distracted as they moved further into the green twilight. He thought the forest had the air of a spot where nature reigned supreme: Silent, sacred. Powerful, and distinctly different from Pylea. "You know, we might have gone too far. This might be a dimension further up the scale from ours."

"What do you mean? Dimensions have ratings, like in an interdimensional travel guide?" Gunn lifted a skeptical brow.

"There are heavenly dimensions too, you know, as well as hell dimensions. Places where demons never existed. Where magic is elemental."

Gunn stopped and stared at him, his forehead creased with sudden concern. "Heavenly dimensions? What if they don't want us here?"

Wesley shook his head, puzzled by the question. "I don't understand."

"Heaven isn't just some place you walk into. You got to be allowed, you got be invited." Gunn waved an arm, taking in the forest. "If we're lower down on the scale, we might be the same to them as demons are to us. We might be contaminating the place by just standing here!"

"Oh." It was a disquieting thought. "You might be right."

"Great." Gunn gestured in exasperation. "Here I was having a good time. Cordelia's in a bikini, Angel's a human, the sun is shining and it's a beautiful day, what's not to like? Now I'm going to be condemned to eternal damnation for trespassing 'cause you landed us in the wrong place."

"It's your theory," Wesley protested hotly, starting off toward the top of a small rise again. "I just said-- Oh."

"What?" Gunn took a couple of long strides to catch up and halted at Wesley's side. "Oh."

In the small clearing ahead there was a foot print, pressed deeply into the loam. Wesley could see it easily because it was about half the size of the convertible. He swallowed in a suddenly dry throat and exchanged an appalled look with Gunn. "I'm going to take a closer look. Ah, keep an eye out, would you?"

"Yeah." Gunn pivoted to keep an eye on the treetops overhead, his lips pressed into a thin line.

Wesley approached the print, sitting on his heels to examine it more closely. He had a momentary hope that it was just some natural ground formation and he and Gunn would have a good chuckle over the fright it had given them and then go on and.... _No. Those are clearly toes, with claws, and a hook on the heel_. "From the depth, this is something close to the size of the true demons," he said thoughtfully, "the ones from the Hell dimensions, not the lesser beings that populate earth."

"And here I was hoping this forest was more Swiss Family Robinson than Blair Witch," Gunn said from behind him, his tone sober. "Now we know the place has wildlife that makes Pylea look like a petting zoo."

Wesley grimaced in agreement, then spotted something in the tall grass. He leaned in, carefully lifting it up. It was part of a bow, a wooden long bow that would have been over five feet in length, if half of it hadn't been crushed to powder under the foot of whatever had made the print. The grip was wrapped with leather and it had been made all of carved wood, no plastic in its construction anywhere. "We know something else," he said, standing up to show it to Gunn. "There are people here." He added grimly, "Or at least, there were."

"Wait." Gunn motioned him to silence, listening intently. After a moment Wesley heard it too -- a distant crashing through the underbrush.

"It's this way." Gunn led the way along the rise, ducking under heavy pine branches. "Doesn't sound nearly as big as whatever left that print."

They came to a spot where the rise dropped off to allow a view across the uneven terrain of the forest, where a series of small hills and terraces covered with trees climbed up the slope on either side of a shallow gully. A narrow stream ran through the bottom, cascading down the rocks.

"There!" Wesley pointed, squinting to make out more detail in the green shadows. He could see two figures running through the undergrowth. As they came out into the gully and through a patch of sunlight, he saw it was two men. Both were long-haired, dressed in rough primitive clothing, one big and dark, the other smaller and blond with a broadsword strapped across his back.

"So they look human," Gunn said softly, watching intently. "At least from a distance."

The bigger man splashed across the stream, the smaller crossing it in an agile bound. The big man slid to a halt in the gravel, looked around swiftly, then up.

"Yes, humans." Wesley found himself meeting the strange man's eyes across the distance, sharing a moment of shocked surprise. The blond man with the sword fetched up beside him, staring at them in equal astonishment. Wesley had time to see both men looked exhausted, their sweat-soaked skin streaked with dirt. Then the forest went dark around them, as if a shadow had covered the sun. _The footprint_. Recalling it with a jolt of alarm, Wesley looked up. A shape passed over the gaps in the tree canopy. A big shape. "Humans who are running from something!"

"Holy shit!" Gunn grabbed his shoulder, hauling him back toward the shelter of the trees. Wesley turned to run just as something slammed into him with the force of a speeding truck. He felt himself flying forward, then nothing.

***

"Cupcake, I just don't think this is a Hell dimension," Lorne said, picking his way carefully through the tall grass. He and Cordelia were climbing the low hill at the far end of the meadow, the forested slopes rising up just beyond it. "It just doesn't have that kind of vibe." As they reached the top he gave a sudden yelp of alarm, pointing at the ground in her path. "Watch out!"

"Thanks." Cordelia stepped carefully around the muddy patch and paused to survey the terrain. Beyond the hill the forest stretched up in terraces, the trees making an almost impenetrable green canopy and the ground thick with ferns and undergrowth. It wasn't too dense to walk through, if you were a badger or something. The Pylean Queen's outfit -- bikini, a few strategic silk scarves, and light sandals -- had not exactly been designed for hiking. Lorne, in his spats, wasn't in much better shape. She didn't see anything to indicate where they were, but the forest was so dense there could be a Hyatt hidden in it and they wouldn't be able to tell. "I'm not going to count it as a non-Hell hole unless I get some more evidence."

"Better safe than sorry." Lorne batted away an aggressive fern. "I don't know about you, but I'm more than ready to get back to the world of Motown, hot running water and all night Thai food delivery." He turned back to look out over the meadow, then frowned. "Where's the Dynamic Duo?"

Cordelia glanced back, scanning the other side of the valley for Gunn and Wesley. "They were going to search the woods." She regarded the green wall again. "I declare our woods searched."

"Uh huh, maybe." Lorne sounded genuinely worried now. "But then where's Angel and Fred?"

"What?" Cordelia turned, really looking now. The car sat where they had left it, standing there solitary in the meadow, incongruous as a piece of modern art. The trunk was open and there was no sign of the others. "We'd better--" A familiar spike of pain jolted through her temple and she gasped for breath. "Oh. Oh, god." She pressed a hand to her head, wincing. _Oh, no, not now_. "Lorne, I'm having a--" Then dark overcame her as the vision filled her eyes.

_\--the cavernous interior of a dark stone building, the walls streaked with lichen and vines, first Wesley and Gunn, then Angel and Fred sprawled unconscious in a patch of sunlight and something huge moving in the shadows. It's not supposed to be there, it wants to go, we want it gone, it's not supposed to be there--_ She stood bolt upright, a sizzle like electricity running through her body, pointing up over the hills toward the side of the mountain. "It's there!"

Her eyes blurred and the darkness was rapidly taking her, but she thought Lorne was tugging on her arm, looking up in horror at something looming overhead. "Honey, it's here, we've got to run!"

But the electricity ran out of her, all the way up to explode the top of her head.

***

"I can't believe this," Hercules muttered for the tenth time, wrestling the fallen tree trunk out of its covering of leaves and branches.

"Stop saying that," Iolaus told him. He was crouched in the brush at the edge of the sun-drenched clearing, cutting off lengths of tough sinewy vine to use as rope. "We'll fix it." They had tried to follow the shapeshifter after it snatched the two strangers but they had lost it in the deep forest. They had caught a glimpse of it coming back this way but it hadn't had the two men with it. What that could mean made Iolaus' stomach want to turn.

Wrenching the log up and dragging it free, Hercules continued to mutter, but under his breath. _I can't believe this. I led a monster down on two innocent bystanders._ It was an act worthy of Perseus at his self-involved best.

Iolaus straightened up, tossing the cut vines into the pile behind him. He bit his lip but just had to voice the thought that was weighing most heavily on his mind. He looked uneasily at Hercules. "You don't think it ate them already, do you?"

Hercules winced. "No," he said shortly. He dragged the log into the open part of the clearing, lowering it to the ground with a thump. "We just have to figure out where it took them."

Iolaus hoped that was Hercules' considered opinion and not just wishful thinking. He sat on his heels, pulling out another length of vine and hauling on it to test the strength. Hitting a shapeshifter with something really heavy was the only way to stop one and this hastily constructed trap was their best chance. "It's not your fault, you didn't know they were up there. We're out in the middle of nowhere, how could you know we'd run into people?" They had been doubling back, trying to confuse the creature, and the two men must have walked into just the wrong place at the wrong time.

"I should have been able to do something." Hercules punctuated this with a grunt as he heaved the enormous log upright, bracing it against the large tree that was forming the main part of the trap.

"There's no point in arguing with you," Iolaus muttered, gathering the vines over his shoulder. Which didn't mean he wasn't going to. "You just can't--" A high-pitched cry echoed through the forest. He froze, listening intently. "Did you hear that?"

Hercules paused, brow furrowed with concern, still bracing the large log. "That was a woman. Two women?"

"Great, how many more people have we got to rescue from this thing?" Then Iolaus hesitated. "You think it's a trick?"

Hercules shook his head with a grimace. "We can't take that chance."

Iolaus dropped the vines into the pile and wiped his knife on his pants before sheathing it. "You keep going, I'll take a look."

"Right." Hercules hesitated, looking at him worriedly. "Just...."

"I know." Iolaus plunged into the undergrowth. Ducking under a fern tree, he added worriedly under his breath, "Believe me, I know."

He ran in the direction the sound had come from, dodging through the trees. Down the hill, under the cover of a thick stand of pines he slowed, seeing that large shadow cross the open ground again. He ducked down low, peering upward, trying to get a glimpse of it.

It flew over again and Iolaus swore under his breath. The shapeshifter had grown another clawed arm to carry a woman. She hung limply in its grasp, a curtain of dark hair shielding her face. Easing to his feet, he hurried back toward the clearing, marvelling at the downturn their luck had taken in the past few days. _Fortune has got to be pissed off at something_. He just hoped the woman was still alive.

Hercules had got the vines wrapped securely around the log and was just throwing another loop over the heavy branch to lift it. He looked up as Iolaus crashed out of the brush. "It's got a girl," his friend reported breathlessly.

Hercules grimaced in resignation. "Of course it does. Here, tie this off."

After some frantic preparation they were as ready as they would ever be. Hercules stepped back, Iolaus bouncing impatiently at his side, and eyed the result. Haste and the lack of materials hadn't helped; the log wasn't exactly concealed by the branches and the overburdened tree creaked alarmingly at the weight. "It looks-- Never mind, it'll work." _It better work_.

***

Moving carefully downslope through the trees, they found the shapeshifter not far from where Iolaus had seen it. It still clutched the woman in one taloned hand, flying in a low circle over the forested hills at the edge of the open meadow. "It's looking for something," Hercules said softly, watching as its wings just brushed the treetops of the hill below them. "There was someone else with her."

"Yeah." Iolaus nodded grimly. The two men it had already snatched might have been escorting a party of travellers. "It's a thorough bastard."

"It's going to be thoroughly dead." Hercules shoved through the brush, standing up.

It spotted them instantly, roared in triumph, and dived.

The speed of it was shocking and Iolaus didn't have to feign a yelp of alarm as they bolted back up the slope into the brush. It wasn't herding them now; done with that game, it was ready to catch them.

Breaking through into the clearing, they split up, Hercules racing for the tree concealing the trap and Iolaus retreating to one side.

The shapeshifter burst through an instant later in a shower of shattered wood, just as Hercules released the log. It slammed across the clearing, catching the creature full in the body. Thrown backwards, it shrieked and dropped the girl.

Iolaus threw himself forward, catching her before she hit the ground. He rolled, breaking the fall for both of them. The shapeshifter had been knocked into the trees across the clearing, its wings caught and torn by the broken branches. Expressing its rage in ear-splitting shrieks, it struggled to tear itself free. Iolaus saw the damaged wings shrinking away into its body and knew the blow had just slowed it down. He shoved to his feet, hauling the woman with him, slung her over his shoulder, and bolted for cover.

***

Cordelia was lying on soft grass and somebody was supporting her aching head in his lap and patting her gently on the cheek. She swatted at the patter, annoyed.

Somewhere above her head someone spoke, the words not making any sense. She tried to hear the male voices as Wesley and Gunn's, then realized they were completely unfamiliar. _Uh oh_.

She dragged her eyes open, registered two strange men leaning over her, and sat bolt upright. The abrupt move made her grab her aching head, grimacing; she didn't know if the demon had knocked her around or if it was just the normal horrible vision hangover. _Probably both. Ow_.

She managed to get her eyes open again and saw she was in the forest, giant trees arching up overhead. Two guys were sitting there watching her with concern. One was big, muscular, and gorgeous, with long chestnut brown hair. The other was smaller, muscular, and gorgeous with a mane of curly blond hair. Both were wearing rough tatty leather in faded colors, with lots of pecs and biceps and really nice abs showing. "I think I'm hallucinating," she informed them, rubbing her pounding head. Obviously the demon was eating her and her brain had retreated into a fantasy where she had been rescued by a couple of prehistoric hotties. All the wild hair and tanned muscles reminded her pleasantly of the Grooselug. "Damn, it's like a smorgasbord. If this was that dream I have occasionally there'd be champagne and a bubble bath and we'd be in Paris."

A throaty roar echoed through the trees and she flinched, clutching her head. The noise seem to reverberate inside it. "That thing could shut the hell up." She blinked up blearily to see both men had leapt to their feet, looking worriedly into the trees. She looked in the same direction and saw something big and sallow-yellow impossibly high in the air, smashing off the top of a tall pine.

"Oh no." As a hallucination it was beginning to seem awfully real. Cordelia shoved herself up, checking to make sure her outfit still covered all the right spots, and stumbled as the ground swayed under her. The blond one caught her arm, holding her upright as he and the other guy exchanged a rapid spate of incomprehensible speech over her head.

Then the big one swept her up in his arms. She yelped, then knotted her hands in his soft leather vest as he started to run. She closed her eyes tightly but that just made the jolting motion seem worse. "Damn, you're big," she muttered. _This is real, the giant demon is chasing us, and this guy has biceps bigger around than my thigh_. The bone-shaking pace was making her vision-abused stomach roil and she took deep breaths, knowing it was bad manners to vomit on people who were trying to rescue you.

She opened her eyes as she was gently deposited on the ground again and saw they were in the shelter of an overhang, in a rocky little crevasse buried in the trees. "Oh, good idea." She drew a breath in relief, then realized they were missing somebody. "Wait, where's the other one?" Still woozy, she stared at the big guy. He was kneeling at the edge of the overhang, obviously thinking the same thing, looking grimly into the tangled undergrowth and trees.

Then the blond guy whipped around the rocks, sliding into their shelter in a cloud of dust and gravel. The big guy grabbed him by his vest, yanking him inside. Cordelia found herself pushed into the back, huddled behind the blond guy with the big one in front, blocking the opening.

Outside it was deathly quiet but Cordelia had hidden from enough things to know that didn't mean jack. Her eyes hurt and her head still reeled and pounded from the vision, but the smell of sweaty leather was oddly comforting under the circumstances. She took that as another sign of how Sunnydale and Angel Investigations had warped her personality. Dizzy, she leaned against the blond guy's back, holding onto his waist to steady herself and closing her aching eyes. He was all hard muscle, just like the other one, and it was like hugging a rock. He twitched slightly, startled, his sword bumping her and his hair tickling her cheek. Then he squeezed her hand reassuringly.

Cordelia flinched as the demon roared almost directly overhead. She remembered it had those long arms and knew if it saw them it would scoop them out of here like...like...some things out of a something. The roar trailed into words. _Great, it can talk,_ she thought sourly. _It's not enough that they do terrible disgusting things to you, they have to tell you all about it too_. Though she couldn't understand the words, the tone made her skin prickle. The thing just sounded...mean. Cut you open and play with your intestines mean. Like Darla. Like Angelus.

It crashed through the trees again, but the sound was moving off, gradually fading away. The two men relaxed, exchanging some comments in that relieved, annoyed tone she was all too familiar with from her own experiences. _We're safe. I just hope it doesn't find--_ The vision, half forgotten in pain and confusion, suddenly came back to her in living color. _Oh, crap_.

Iolaus let out a relieved breath. "That was close."

"Too close." Hercules glared at him. "It almost got you."

"Hardly. It didn't realize I'd doubled back until I was nearly here." Too many people to rescue, some of whom were in predicaments he felt responsible for, was making Hercules cranky. Iolaus glared back and the demigod rolled his eyes, climbing out of the crevasse and dusting off his pants.

The girl let Iolaus go, sitting up and shoving her hair out of her eyes with a dazed look, so he scrambled out, turning back to offer her a hand up. The trees sheltering these rocks were oaks and crashing down through the hardwood branches would have been much harder on the shapeshifter then smashing through the pines. "Any clue yet why it wanted us down here?"

"No." Already over his fit of pique, Hercules planted his hands on his hips, looking thoughtful. "I was hoping for something a little more obvious. The last one of these we ran into wasn't exactly subtle about its intentions."

"No kidding." Iolaus had found the "please succumb to the inevitable so I can eat you" attitude to be particularly irritating. At least hydras didn't act so damn superior. He helped the girl to her feet. She shook her hair back and spoke in an urgent tone, waving her arms. _Damn, she's beautiful_. He had noticed before but this was his first chance to really appreciate the whole effect when she was conscious and her face wasn't creased with pain. She must have been travelling with the two men the shapeshifter had caught, but he wondered why she was out here in this rough country wearing an outfit meant for lounging at a palace baths.

Hercules eyed her, perplexed. "I wish she could speak Greek."

Trying to look on the bright side, Iolaus began, "Hey, at least we don't have to explain to her about how we got her friends--" He caught the look on Hercules' face and winced. "Sorry."

"Look, you need to understand what I'm saying!" Cordelia shouted in frustration. They both looked at her, baffled. Well, at least one of them was looking at her. "Hey Blondie, my face is up here." Cordelia snapped her fingers at eye level to get the other man to drag his attention upwards. "My friends got taken away by that giant demon thing and I need some help, comprendez?" She threw her arms in the air, frustrated beyond bearing. "It's got them in some big temple cave thing, over that way, I saw it in my vision!"

Still nothing. Cordelia found the big guy's concentrated stare intimidating, so she hit him in the arm. He jerked away with an annoyed exclamation. She retreated hastily behind the blond guy, shaking her stinging hand. It felt like she had punched a wall and it sure hadn't done her already badly abused manicure any good. She saw that giving her a wounded look was going to be the extent of his retaliation, so she came out for another round. "My friends, the demon took my friends! You guys have got to help me get them back."

Eyeing the woman warily in case she got violent again, Hercules said, "I've heard that language before. Does it sound familiar to you?"

Iolaus frowned. "Yeah, real familiar, but I'm not sure from where." The woman began to point agitatedly back toward the direction the shapeshifter had come from. That failing, she grabbed Iolaus' arm and managed to tow him a couple of steps before he halted them both by planting his feet. Brows lifted speculatively, he glanced back at Hercules. "You think she saw where it took the others?"

"If that's it--" Hercules nodded thoughtfully as the woman ran around behind him and tried vainly to push him in the same direction. "She obviously wants us to follow her somewhere. Let's go."

***

Wesley was conscious of hard cold stone under his cheek, grit biting into his skin. Also a heavy weight lying across his legs and a gratingly painful headache. Some of these issues could be resolved by moving, so he began trying to push himself up on his elbows. Gravity seemed intent on keeping him horizontal, but after an enormous effort he managed to lift his head.

He got a bleary look around, enough to see that he seemed to be on a stone platform not much wider than one of the smaller rooms at the hotel, and that it was dizzyingly high above the floor of a large cavern. It was lit by shafts of sunlight from openings in the distant roof and he thought, _no, not cavern, temple_. He focussed on a set of large doric columns against the far wall, their elegant lines contrasting oddly with the rough scarred stone framing them.

Behind him someone groaned and the weight trapping his legs shifted. Wesley twisted awkwardly around and saw the reason he had had so much trouble trying to move. "Gunn, get off," he managed to croak.

"What?" Gunn lifted his head, his gaze as bleary as Wesley's. "Oh." He rolled off Wesley's legs and pushed himself into a sitting position, clutching his head. "What the hell happened?"

Wesley sat up carefully, probing his sore ribs. "Something...something very large...."

"Wes--" Gunn suddenly sounded wide awake.

"--it had wings, I believe, and--"

Through gritted teeth, Gunn repeated, "Wes--"

Wesley squinted at his expression and felt a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. "God, it's behind me isn't it." He looked. _Oh. God._

Perched on the edge of the platform, it was huge with two sets of wings moving in quick silent strokes. Its body was long and snake-like, covered with a mottled yellow pattern of scales. A ridge of almost delicate spines sprouted along the back, growing up into a round head studded with an intricate spiral of gold spines and fans, like razor-sharp petals. As he stared, the fan-petals moved as if stirred by a wind, drawing back to reveal a moon-shaped face, round eyes, a nose that was barely an outline, and voluptuous lips. Wesley swallowed in a dry throat. The urge to back away from it was strong but the platform left them nowhere to retreat to.

It spoke suddenly and Wesley flinched in surprise. He didn't understand the words but its voice was husky and overpoweringly feminine. He exchanged a startled look with Gunn.

The creature spoke again, its snake-like tail lashing fitfully, its impatience obvious.

Wesley hastily cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, I don't understand you," he said, speaking clearly. At least it seemed to want to communicate. Though for some reason he wasn't sure that was a good sign.

It stared at him, the expression on its alien features impossible to read. The eyes were like yellow crystal facets and Wesley suddenly jerked his gaze away, wary that the creature might exert some sort of hypnotic influence. He glanced at Gunn to warn him and saw the other man was already half-shielding his eyes. "Man, have I got a bad feeling about this," Gunn muttered.

"Ditto," Wesley whispered back. The creature spoke again and he listened intently. He could tell it was using a different language this time but again the words meant nothing to him. He shook his head, hoping it understood the gesture. "I'm sorry, I still don't--"

The wings flared out suddenly, making Wesley flinch and Gunn curse. Its skin deepened in color and the vanes and petals around its face shivered. Wesley watched, half in awe, half in revulsion, as that face changed, features subtly becoming more human, the nose more pronounced. Only the crystalline eyes remained the same. _Shapechanger_, he thought. He couldn't remember any account of a shapechanging demon of this size before. Its expression took on a look of such angelic innocence that Wesley found himself in no doubt that its motives were pure evil. "Now you understand me," it said in that husky purr.

"Yes, I do." Not that that was necessarily a good thing. Careful not to let that faceted gaze trap him, he looked at its eyes again. He could read the expression in them now and the mingled contempt and anticipation made the back of his neck prickle.

"You opened a portal," it said, the great wings still moving idly, "I could smell it."

"Ah. Yes. We did." He added, mostly truthfully, "It was an accident."

The creature shifted, the fans and vanes surrounding its head rippling. "Accident."

"Yes." It didn't sound convinced. Wesley cleared his throat again, making a snap decision to withhold as much information about how they had come here as possible. "We were driving in our car when we suddenly encountered a great swirling light, and it deposited us here."

"That's right," Gunn added helpfully. "Just bam, and we were here."

The lips lifted in a sly smile. "No accident. Why did you come here?"

Wesley widened his eyes, trying to radiate sincerity. "We had no intention of coming here. We were trying to travel to our home--"

"In the car--" Gunn contributed.

"Yes, travelling in our car, along the road, and--"

It turned, an arm growing out of its side to point down into the temple below. "Open that portal."

Warily, Wesley sat up on his knees to look over the side. There was about a hundred foot drop down to the floor of the temple. He saw paving stones stained with moss and dirt, some broken chunks of square stone that might have fallen from the roof above where the sunlight now streamed down, and the broken pieces of a collapsed column. Gunn had edged around to see too and they exchanged a look. Gunn's expression said clearly, "This thing is not only nasty but crazy." Wesley cleared his throat again, thinking frantically. _Pretend to see a portal or not?_ Either option could get them killed. He opted for not since at least it was less complicated. "I'm afraid I don't see--"

"There." It pointed again and Wesley saw a large stone well, set back in the deep shadow at the far end of the temple. It appeared to be capped with what must be an immensely heavy stone cover, though there was no evidence of any kind of winch or hoist to lift it off. There was some sort of figure carved into the stone wall above it but he couldn't make out what it was. "Within the well."

"Ah, yes." _A hotspot inside the well, perhaps?_ It was something of a relief that the creature wasn't demanding he open an imaginary portal but he had a strong feeling doing anything it wanted was definitely the wrong choice. "I'm afraid I can't open portals. I don't know how." He sat back, looking up at it, trying to convey honesty. "Sorry."

It stared at him for a long moment, the slight smile still playing on its lips, then said, "I too came here by accident. I too just want to return to my world. But my enemies scheme to keep me here. You saw them. They persecute me."

Gunn made a quietly skeptical snort and Wesley kept his expression of polite attention, thinking, _Yes, of course, that's why you were chasing them and attacked the first people you saw as a substitute_. He would feel better if he didn't have the distinct impression that the thing was enjoying the game and didn't care whether they believed it or not.

It turned, wings flaring up like silk curtains, to show a mottled orange wound in its side that looked as if it had been hit by a small artillery shell. Its neck revolved to regard them over its shoulder at an impossible angle. "See how they hurt me?"

"Yes." Wesley nodded grimly. "It's a shame." _It's a shame their aim wasn't better_. At least they knew the humans of this world were trying to kill it; though rescue was probably out of the question, the thought was vaguely encouraging.

"This is a shame too." The creature shifted fluidly along the edge, causing Wesley and Gunn to hastily scramble away. Then Wesley saw what its large body had blocked from view.

Not far away was another stone platform, a little shorter than theirs but still close to eighty feet high. Gunn muttered a curse and Wesley pressed his lips together. Sprawled on the stone were Angel and Fred, unmoving. "Are they alive?" Wesley asked tightly.

"Of course." It moved its wings lazily and its smile widened. "Eating dead things is disgusting."

"Yeah, I knew that was coming," Gunn said grimly.

Wesley took a deep breath. At least the thing had finally gotten to the point. "If we open the portal for you--" he prompted.

"If you help me escape through that portal, I'll only eat one or two of you."

Wesley stared. _Demon logic. One never gets used to it_. "Oh. I see," he said flatly. "And if we don't help you, you'll eat all of us."

"Of course."

"Of course." Wesley wet his lips. "I don't know how to open portals, but I am experienced in sorcery. If you don't eat any of us, I'll try my best to help you." _Stall, stall, stall_. "But first, I'll need our car. The vehicle we arrived in, down in the meadow."

It eyed him thoughtfully and he could tell he had surprised it. It was obviously experienced enough with portals to know that one didn't normally need a convertible to open an interdimensional gateway. Then it said, "Very well."

It lifted its wings as if about to leap into the air, then hesitated. "But I think I'll leave you something to keep you company."

Wesley gaped as a section of its body broke off and tumbled over the edge of the platform. He and Gunn looked after it, watching as the giant lump of yellow flesh hit the stone, rolled, and stood up.

This new creature was smaller but had many short legs and a barbed tail. Wesley couldn't see any eyes from this angle but it did have a large round mouth packed with glittering teeth. It shook itself, then started a patrol around the bases of the two pillars.

"I've never seen a demon do that before," Wesley muttered.

"That's all we need," Gunn agreed under his breath.

The larger creature laughed softly and leapt upward, the sudden rush of air nearly knocking Wesley over the side. Gunn grabbed his arm to steady him and they watched the creature shrink to a long narrow streamer of color as it shot toward a crack in the cave roof.

The cavern was quiet except for a low growl from the thing patrolling below.

Wesley shifted away from the side and let out a breath. "Well. Here we are."

"But no sign of...." Gunn hesitated, looking down at their guard. Wesley knew he was thinking of Cordelia and Lorne. No telling if the sub-creature could understand them or even hear them, but best not to take chances. "Anybody else. They got away." He looked at Wesley for confirmation and frowned at his grimly worried expression. "Or not."

"No, no, I...hope," Wesley finished honestly.

Gunn shook his head, rubbing his face. "Damn. They better have got away."

They sat there a moment in silence, then Gunn asked softly, "So English, what do you think? We screwed?"

Wesley looked around briefly. It was too high to jump, and judging by the pillar Angel and Fred were imprisoned on, the sides were too smooth for any hope of climbing, even if they could somehow get under the lip of the platform without falling. The surface was bare of anything that might be used as a weapon, even a loose stone, their companions weren't any better off, and Angel as a human had no special strength or ability to aid them. "Unless you're concealing a hundred-foot rope and a grappling hook on you somewhere, we screwed," Wesley agreed grimly.

***

"Still no sign of it," Iolaus commented, pausing to peer up through an opening in the trees above. His gut told him that wasn't a good sign. At least while the shapeshifter was occupied with chasing them it didn't have time to find any more villages to eat.

Hercules nodded, glancing back with brows drawn together in worry. "This is the first time it's left us alone for two days. It wanted something from us, and it wasn't just another meal." He ducked under a low-hanging branch, following the woman as she plunged headlong through the undergrowth. "Maybe it found another way to get it."

Iolaus shook his head. It didn't bode well for the people the shapeshifter had taken. "I hope she knows where she's going." He took a couple of long strides to catch up. The woman was leading them back in the direction the creature had last come from, but further up the slope of the mountain. She obviously believed that wherever she was leading them, it was urgent. And she seemed determined to take the hardest possible route.

As she started to launch herself down between the trees into a rocky gully, he made a grab for her and missed. "Herc!" He slid down through the gravel, catching himself on a sapling's trunk.

"Hey, not that way!" Hercules reached out a long arm and caught her, pulling her back. "It's easier to cross further up."

Snarling, she jerked away and stamped past them upslope, shoving branches out of the way. Since they had no idea where she was leading them, their pace was constrained to hers, but she seemed to blame them for the slow progress. Following, Hercules shook his head in exasperation. "I don't think she's ever been in a forest before."

"I don't think she's ever seen a tree before," Iolaus countered, watching her awkwardly trying to bat away a pine branch. "Not close up." He plowed upslope in Hercules' wake, ducking under the wildly swinging branches. He paused at the top where the ground flattened out and the gully had shrunk to a crevice narrow enough to step across. "Herc, hold it." Hercules stopped the woman again as Iolaus paused, head cocked, listening. In the quiet, he heard the faint noise again. It was the crackle of dead leaves below them in the gully as something moved through it, heading in their direction. "You hear that?"

After a moment Hercules nodded grimly. He shooed their impatient new friend back toward Iolaus. "You stay with her, I'll try to get a look at it."

"Right." Muttering in exasperation, hands planted on her hips, the woman watched him vanish across the crevice into the brush. She glared at Iolaus, who told her, "Will you just relax?"

Then he heard a voice call out from down the hill. The woman yelled an answer, dodged the wild grab Iolaus made, and raced toward the sound. Iolaus bolted after her, swearing under his breath.

As she crashed back through the undergrowth to where the gully widened a figure dressed in red and green staggered out of the brush. Iolaus slid to a halt, drawing his sword.

It wasn't wearing green, it was green; a human-like figure with green skin, red eyes, and two small satyr-like horns sprouting from its forehead, dressed all in red. Something about it, maybe the vivid hue of its skin, reminded Iolaus uncomfortably of the Blue Priest. But before he could surge forward the woman waved to it, calling happily.

It waved and called back to her, obviously relieved. It struggled up the side of the gully to her, its feet slipping in the dirt. She leaned down and grabbed its arm to help it up the last few steps; once it stood on firm ground it began to gesture agitatedly and expostulate, while brushing the dirt off the woman's back and picking a leaf out of her hair. Iolaus thought, _okay, not monster, person. Green person with horns, but person_. It was more than a little disconcerting; the only other people Iolaus had seen who looked even vaguely like that had sworn themselves to Hera in return for invincibility. Somehow this guy didn't sound invincible.

Then Green Guy saw him and yelped in alarm. The slightly exaggerated, almost musical shriek reminded Iolaus of Salmoneus and he had to suppress a grin.

Hercules stepped out of the trees on the far side of the gully and stopped abruptly at the sight. He must have noted the distant resemblance to the Blue Priest too, because he eyed Green Guy thoughtfully in the way that meant he was trying to decide which part to pull off first. Sheathing his sword, Iolaus said matter of factly, "It's a person."

Hercules lifted a brow at him. "Are you sure?"

"No." Iolaus shrugged. "But wait'll you hear it talk."

"What happened?" Cordelia demanded, relieved. After Lorne had survived having his head cut off in Pylea, it would have been a damn shame for him to die here. "I thought that thing got you too!"

Brushing dirt off his coat, he told her, "When it swooped down on us it knocked me head over fanny down that hill. I'm still finding grass burrs in the worst places." He looked past her, eyes widening in alarm, and backpedaled rapidly. "Yikes, it's a human!"

"What? Oh, him." Looking around, Cordelia realized he meant the blond guy. She grabbed Lorne's arm, planting her feet to halt his escape. "Calm down, he's helping us! They got me away from that demon."

"They? Holy crap!" He spotted the big guy, coming back toward them across the gully, and hastily retreated behind Cordelia. "I didn't know humans came in that size!"

She kept a grip on his arm to keep him from bolting, protesting, "But they're harmless, except for being really strong and the sword and everything. They won't hurt me. Or you," she added belatedly at Lorne's alarmed expression. Cordelia waved her hand impatiently. "Look, I had a vision--"

Lorne ducked behind her again. "Honey, while I admire the rustic leatherboy look as much as anybody, are you sure this is a real good idea? Nobody loves and reveres your home dimension more than I do, but primitive humans?" He sidled uneasily away. "Not my bag."

Hercules climbed the bank in a couple of big steps and stood next to Iolaus, watching the Green Guy distrustfully. "This is turning into an interesting day," he commented dryly.

Iolaus gave him a wry look. "I hate it when you say that."

"Of course I'm sure!" Cordelia rolled her eyes, fed up. "Besides, there's not much choice. We're not only in a strange dimension, we're out in the middle of freaking nowhere and we need help. They're it!"

"Granted," Lorne admitted, "But I'm sensing a huge potential for violence here." He eyed the big guy warily. "I'd feel better if you could get one of them to sing."

"Well I'd feel better if I had a manicure, a hot bath, and some real shoes instead of these stupid flimsy Pylean knock-offs, but that's not happening either!" Cordelia had given Lorne's skittishness all the attention it was going to get. "Listen to me! I had a vision. That demon has the others in some temple up there somewhere," she waved a hand vaguely toward the upper slopes, "And if we don't get the hell up there now, it's going to do something awful involving a lot of mystical crap and they're all going to die horribly. So we have to hurry!" She started determinedly back up the slope, grabbing a sapling to haul herself along.

"But, Cordelia, honey--" Seeing the determined set of her shoulders, Lorne groaned in resignation. "Oh, what the heck. You only live once." He stumbled hurriedly in her wake, trying to keep her between him and the two men.

"Take it easy," Iolaus told Hercules. "You're scaring her...friend there."

Hercules gave him a look from under lowered brows. "I'm just standing here, Iolaus."

Cordelia had stopped, drawing breath to yell at them to get a move on, but that name, Iolaus, rang all kinds of bells in her head.

"What is it?" Lorne demanded nervously, watching her face. "What's the matter? Can you understand what they're saying? Was it about me?"

She waved at him to be quiet. "Wait, I'm thinking." When they had first come through the portal, there had been something about the rush of air that had been teasingly familiar. Well, it was familiar; she had seen this world and smelled it through a portal in the Sunnydale High School library. And as soon as the car hit the ground she had been utterly convinced it was home. She remembered Xander telling her, _We'd only been there a couple of days, but it was like I was leaving home -- real home, not dysfunctional home -- and never going back._ "I think I know who these guys are," she said slowly. "I think I know people who've been here, to this world, before."

Lorne stared in surprise. "Don't hold out on me, honey, do tell."

_I should have remembered. I heard all about it from them, like endlessly_. Now Cordelia wished she had listened better, but she had been a little pissed off that they had all got to go without her, just because she had been with Oz picking up dinner. And because she had spent the night thinking they were all dead while they were off having a great time. She told Lorne, "Back when I lived in Sunnydale there was a thing with a giant snake that sucked people into other worlds--" At his bewildered expression she shook her head in frustration. "Hell, it's a long story." She turned impatiently to the two men, who were watching her like they were wondering if she was nuts. "You're Iolaus, and you're Hercules, right? I'm Cordelia." She pointed to herself urgently. "Cor-del-ia. They must have told you about me. You know my oh-so-ex-boyfriend, Xander? And Buffy and Willow and Giles?"

"Greek Gods?" Lorne lifted a brow, studying the two men appraisingly. "Well, color me convinced."

"That's it!" Hercules smacked himself in the forehead. "That's where we heard that language before! I knew it was familiar."

"She's Cordelia?" Iolaus said incredulously, momentarily caught in a side issue. "And Xander was willing to leave her? The kid must have been out of his mind."

Hercules frowned, thinking it out. "But what's she doing here with those two men and...that? They must have opened another blue swirly doorway somehow, but why up here?"

Iolaus shook his head, baffled. They knew Buffy and Giles and their friends hunted monsters too. "Maybe they were after the shapeshifter. Maybe it came from their world?"

"Oh, he said my name, they remember!" Then Cordelia frowned. "And Xander's name." She took a step toward them, demanding, "What are you saying about me? What did he tell you? Oh, never mind! Let's go already."

"But...." Lorne gestured helplessly. "Don't you think we should try to communicate with signs or sticks or something?"

Preoccupied by whatever character assassination Xander might have committed in the course of guy talk, Cordelia stamped off along the gully. "Come on, guys, chop chop, let's go, let's go!"

"Hey! But what are you doing here, how--" Hercules threw a frustrated glance at Iolaus. "Now what's she mad about?"

Iolaus hitched his sword up on his shoulder, giving in on trying to guess. "Beats me."

They both looked at Green Guy, who gave them an apologetic shrug and hurried after Cordelia.

***

"Please stop pacing," Wesley said, trying to make it sound like a reasonable request. As Gunn walked across the pillar's surface, Wesley could feel the whole column vibrate and it was giving him a rapidly advancing case of acrophobia.

"Huh? Oh, sorry." Gunn came back, dropping into a sitting position next to him. "Man, I'm going stir crazy already and we ain't been here that long." He sat up suddenly, alert. "Hey, they're awake."

Wesley turned to look. On the other platform Angel was starting to stir. They watched him sit up, gripping his head as if he was afraid it would fall off. Finally he looked up, took in the situation and spotted them.

Wesley saw he was about to call to them and made frantic shushing motions while Gunn pointed down at the guard creature, still patrolling below. He didn't want any mention of Cordelia and Lorne; if the two had escaped, they couldn't chance letting the demon know they even existed. Angel squinted, spotted the thing, and nodded in understanding.

Wesley watched Angel lean over Fred, touching her shoulder, and the young woman sat up suddenly. Too suddenly. "I think she's been awake for some time," Wesley said, brows lifted. "She certainly has extraordinary survival instincts."

"Guess she'd have to, what she's been through." Gunn nodded grimly. "Wish we did."

While Fred sat in a huddle, Angel examined the platform briefly, obviously coming to the same helpless conclusion they had. Even if he had still been a vampire, getting down without breaking most of the bones in his body would have been difficult. As a human, it was impossible. Finally he planted his hands on his hips, looking up at them with a frustrated expression.

Wesley knew the feeling. "Wait." He patted his jeans pockets and was rewarded with a small notebook and a pencil stub. He wrote a brief precis of the situation ending with _demon will eat us unless we open sealed dimensional portal - ideas?_, crumbled the sheet into a ball and threw it across to Angel.

Angel caught it, read the note and looked up with a pained expression. Wesley shrugged helplessly. Angel stared into the distance for a few moments, then found a pen in his coat and scribbled rapidly on the back of the note. Then he folded it into a somewhat lopsided paper airplane and tried to sail it back up to them. The plane looped once and crashed into the stone near Fred, who jerked her feet away from it and eyed it suspiciously.

They watched Angel's attempts to get the missive airborne long enough to reach them in silence, then Gunn turned to regard Wesley with a lifted brow. Wesley sighed in agreement. "Well, he's a vampire, not a rocket scientist."

Fred, watching in increasing agitation, snatched the plane out of the air as it fluttered back down, flattened it across her knee, refolded it in a few sure movements, then launched it. The plane looped twice, then shot straight up so Wesley could easily snatch it out of the air. He held it absently, frowning in bafflement. "That was rather odd. I wouldn't think anyone could make some rather crumpled paper do that, no matter how good they were at toy airplanes."

Gunn took the note, impatiently unfolding it. "Maybe she's a rocket scientist."

The note read _Where's Cordelia - Lorne?_

Gunn swore in disappointment and Wesley shook his head, miming another baffled shrug.

Angel pressed his lips together. At least they weren't all trapped here. He turned to Fred. "You okay there?"

"This isn't so bad." She was still huddled in the middle of the platform, but looking around thoughtfully. "It was pretty big. When they're that big, it's bound to be quick."

"What?" Angel frowned, trying to decode that. He hadn't seen the demon that had swooped down on them in the meadow at all before being knocked unconscious, but Fred must have managed to catch a glimpse of it. "Oh, you mean...the being eaten."

Fred nodded rapidly. "The size of the mouth and the number of teeth -- projected number, of course, based on a guesstimate of the jaw width -- I'm thinking one bite."

"Oh. That's...." Angel couldn't bring himself to say "good." Fatalism wasn't exactly uncommon among the people he knew well, but Fred took it to a whole new level. He went over to sit beside her. "You know, we're going to get out of this and get you home, it's just taking a little longer than I thought."

"That's okay." Fred gave him a sideways glance. "It wasn't bad. Before the, you know, grabbing and flying and dumping."

Angel nodded. But for Fred, who had been treated like an animal for years, any place where she wasn't being actively tortured counted as not so bad.

Fred studied him for a moment, her dark eyes serious. "Are you okay?"

_Good question_. He had been trying to answer that one himself for a while. He had gotten used to breathing again much more quickly than he had thought possible, but the extra aches and bruises from being dropped onto the rock were no fun. The shadows were darker too, the air far less rich with scent. But if it was permanent, not just something the portal into this dimension had done to him.... "It's just...weird," he admitted. "It happened once before. Besides when I was originally human. But it's still a shock." He propped his arms on his knees, trying to think of the right words. "It feels...not wrong, but inappropriate. I didn't do anything to deserve this. It's just some accident, from going through the portal."

"But you're a hero. You deserve good things."

He shook his head. "I have a lot to atone for." His mouth twisted ruefully. "I still have to atone for things I did over the past few weeks; the total keeps going up." He looked at her, willing her to understand. "You saw what was inside me."

A shadow blotted out the sun coming through the gaps in the roof; Fred glanced up and stiffened. "I'm going to be unconscious now. We'll talk later."

As she flopped over on the rock and went still, Angel stood up. Something big, yellow, and mean was drifting down through the still air. The demon was back.

 

***

The terrain was getting rough, fewer trees and more rock, and more danger if the shapeshifter suddenly reappeared. Constantly looking up, Iolaus found himself walking into low bushes and stumbling over vines. Even Hercules showed a tendency to duck as they crossed open ground.

"I wish she would at least try to talk to us." Hercules sounded disgruntled as they followed Cordelia up the steep hillside.

"Yeah," Iolaus agreed, looking away from the cloudy sky to eye Cordelia's stubborn back as she picked her way up through the loose rock, Green Guy trailing in her wake. "It's enough to drive you nuts."

"And why does she keep hitting me?"

Iolaus shrugged, restraining an amused grin. Hercules was always the last to know. "She likes you."

As Hercules gave him a look of disbelief Cordelia paused to throw a glare back at both of them, as if preternaturally sensing they were talking about her. Their attempts to get any more information out of her had gotten them nothing but annoyed stares and abrupt gestures to hurry. There were a lot of questions they wanted to ask, about how Buffy and the others were, what had brought Cordelia and her companions here, but the language barrier made that impossible. It was another frustration in a week already laden with them.

And it was bad enough that they had inadvertently led the shapeshifter down on strangers; knowing that they had led it down on friends of friends was infinitely worse. And to add to that, now Iolaus couldn't enjoy the view of Cordelia forging determinedly ahead because it felt vaguely like incest.

Cordelia grimly plowed up the slope, Lorne stumbling along gamely behind her and obviously knowing better than to try to make small talk. Her feet hurt like hell, everybody had been captured by a crazed giant demon, and her prehistoric hotties had turned out to be friends of Buffy's, which bugged her, and it bugged her more that she knew damn well it was irrational and petty to be bugged by it. Or by the fact that Buffy had bagged the blond guy who managed to be both cute and dangerous at the same time. _Jeeze, they were only here two days,_ she grumbled to herself. _And people say I'm a fast worker._ And she didn't know if the god-thing was true or not but that Hercules guy was putting out some high octane male pheromones, and every time she looked back at him he wasn't looking at her. Which was probably for the best, since with ragged hair, dirt-streaked legs, broken nails and boiling temper she knew she looked like Queen PMS of Whatever-the-Hell Land. And all her friends could already be dead for all she knew. The stupid vision hadn't told her enough, she could even be wrong about where this temple was. "Dammit," she growled under her breath. "I hate demons."

"Did you say something, Cupcake?" Lorne gasped from behind her as he scrambled over a rock.

"Nothing."

Something in the air made Iolaus stop and gaze suspiciously back down the mountain. Then he caught a sudden flicker of movement against the treetops. "Herc!"

Hercules glanced up and grabbed for Cordelia. She spotted the creature, gasping and pointing up at it just as Hercules hauled her back under a tree. Green Guy emitted a yelp and dived for cover, hastily ducking down behind a clump of fern bushes.

Hunkered down behind the large roots of Hercules' tree, Iolaus studied the shapeshifter's outline as it flew overhead. It was a little smaller, the shape subtly different. It was also carrying something large and blocky clutched in its lower set of claws. "You think it saw us?"

"It must have." Leaning out from behind the tree, Hercules frowned tightly. "It's just acting like it didn't. And what in Tartarus is it carrying?"

"Hey, it's stealing our car!" Outraged, Cordelia peered around Hercules' biceps. She couldn't believe the gall of this freaking demon. She whispered furiously, "Jeeze! Like it hasn't done enough already!"

"I don't get it." Lorne sat up cautiously behind his fern, staring in disbelief. "These people probably use rocks as currency, why does it think there's going to be any resale value for a used convertible with ichor stains on the upholstery?"

The shapeshifter spiraled down toward a flat rocky outcrop not far above their hiding place. Iolaus tensed, certain it had something in mind for them. Angling itself, wings flickering like a hummingbird's, it shook itself all over, then dived to vanish beneath the tumbled piles of rock further upslope.

"Huh?" Iolaus sat up on his knees, lifting his brows. "What's that about? Did it drop something?" he said, keeping his voice to a bare whisper.

Hercules craned his neck, his height giving him a better view. "It looked like it split part of itself off. I think the rest went down into a crack in the rock, but I can see something moving on the surface."

"Split part of itself off?" Iolaus repeated warily. "Like Dahak?"

"No, not like Dahak." His expression grim, Hercules set Cordelia aside, motioning her to be quiet as she started to speak. He stepped past Iolaus, moving silently. "Let's take a look."

Iolaus pushed to his feet, drawing his sword. Behind him there was a muted eek of alarm from Green Guy and loud shushing noises from Cordelia. Iolaus winced and exchanged a rueful look with his partner. "I wouldn't count on the element of surprise."

"Yeah." Brow furrowed, Hercules picked up a stone, weighing it thoughtfully in his hand as he looked at the line of rock ahead, concealing whatever lay behind. "I have a bad feeling about this."

Iolaus snorted. "Now you tell me."

"So why are we being quiet?" Cordelia whispered to Lorne, edging over to get behind his bush with him. Once Hercules and Iolaus had moved off, her tree had felt terribly lonely and exposed. The two men stalked up the slope, moving like predators. She suddenly realized how Lorne saw them, why he was still a little afraid of them. "It left, right?"

"Oh no, honey." Lorne put an arm around her shoulders and sank nervously lower into the ferns, the fronds catching on his horns. "Something's up there."

Hercules and Iolaus advanced cautiously toward the ridge of tumbled rock, spreading out without having to think about it, making two targets instead of one.

Then something loomed up from behind the barrier. It was big, the same sallow yellow as the shapeshifter, but its head was blunt, eyeless, and it had a huge rictus of a fanged mouth. The legs braced against the rock were short and stocky, making it look slow. Then it lunged for them with the speed of a charging bull.

Hercules threw the stone he held, smacking the creature right in the forehead. It jerked back at the unexpected force of the blow then snarled silently and leapt down on them. Iolaus was already cutting right, dodging in close as it lunged for Hercules. He slashed at the back right leg, trying to hamstring it, and felt the sword bite hard. The creature rounded on him, way too fast, and he flung himself backward. He shoulder-rolled to his feet as the thing stopped abruptly, writhing and snarling; Hercules had caught it from behind and had an unbreakable hold of one of its back legs. "Gotcha," Iolaus muttered in satisfaction, charging forward to finish it off.

With a sudden shake, the creature split in two. Iolaus swore, backpedaling rapidly. The front part, the end with the mouth, lunged for him, its two legs moving in a rapid blur. He heard a surprised shout from Hercules and caught a glimpse of him grappling with the other half, which was swiftly growing stalk-like arms and another mouth.

Then the front half was on Iolaus and he didn't have time to see what was happening to anybody else. He managed two cuts at its mouth, then a new arm popped out, grabbing him by the leg.

Iolaus hit the ground hard, instinct and experience keeping the sword in front of him, saving him from its first lunge. He scrambled back, hot fetid breath washing over him as the creature angled around for a bite.

A shriek split the air and nearly split Iolaus' head. Then the pitch changed and the creature reeled back, shaking its blunt head in confused pain. Iolaus shoved to his feet and saw Green Guy, standing downslope, hands cupped to his mouth as he let out that high, brain-piercing note. Iolaus shook his head to clear it and turned back to the stunned creature, driving the sword into its unprotected chest. It staggered back, yellowish fluid sprouting from the wound. Hercules appeared behind it, holding up a large stone ripped from the rocky barrier. The first blow flattened the thing into a spongy yellow mass. The second and third were probably unnecessary, but he knew Hercules liked to be thorough.

Iolaus looked for the other half and saw it lying in a puddle at the base of the rocks, where Hercules must have used his hold on its leg to pound it like a hammer. "That was new," Iolaus commented, wrenching his sword out of the creature's chest.

Breathing hard, Hercules tossed the stone aside. "I could have done without it," he agreed. He looked down at Green Guy, frowning thoughtfully. "That was new, too."

"Yeah, it saved my ass." Cordelia and Green Guy were approaching, Cordelia patting her friend on the back.

"That was good, baby," Cordelia told Lorne proudly. That they had been able to contribute something to the fight besides sitting on the sidelines gasping "Oh my God!" made her feel a little better.

"Well, I had some trouble getting the pitch right," Lorne admitted modestly. "These baby demon shapechanging things are a tough crowd."

Hercules and Iolaus exchanged a look, trying to decide what they thought of this development. Iolaus shrugged and Hercules let out his breath, putting it aside for the moment. "All right. Let's see where the rest of it went." He stepped up to the ridge and Iolaus scrambled up to peer over the top. Below was a flat area of rough ground, scarred with giant cracks and ragged tears, like a Titan had torn it open. Then Iolaus realized the raw color of the unweathered stone, the rubble and rock chips still piled up around it meant the disturbance was recent.

"We can't afford a new car," Cordelia groused quietly, creeping after the two men to see what they were looking at on the other side of the rock piles. "What are we going to do when we get home? Angel's sure as hell not driving mine. I just had it detailed!"

"Honey, just let the car go," Lorne said, stumbling after her and trying to keep his head low. "If the freakishly huge flying demon with giant teeth and claws wants it that badly-- Oh wait." He paused, stricken. "What are we thinking? It's the books!"

"The books?" Cordelia repeated blankly, glancing back at his worried face. Then realization hit. "The Books!" The Wolf, Ram, and Hart books they had taken from the priests in Pylea. They were in the car, tucked under the front seat. "Oh, crap."

"It clawed the mountain open to get to what's down there," Hercules said softly, echoing Iolaus' own thought. "That just can't be good."

"No kidding." Iolaus boosted himself over the rock, taking care not to dislodge the loose gravel, as Hercules clambered over and started cautiously toward the nearest opening.

It was a crack easily big enough to drop a wagon through. A little mist and cool air rose up out of it. As Hercules moved toward the edge, Iolaus whispered, "Hey, watch it. If it's right below there, waiting--"

Hercules nodded grimly, his eyes still on the opening. So Iolaus took a deep breath and stepped in time with Hercules, craning his neck to look over the edge.

At first it was just a dark hole. Then as his eyes got used to the darkness he saw it was a huge dark hole. An enormous cavern, the walls lined with columns like a temple. He knelt carefully, peering down into it, and spotted two tall columns near the center of the space, and something moving.... There were people marooned atop the columns, two on each one. _At least they're still alive, but damn._ "Oh, brother," he muttered. "This is not going to be an easy save."

Hercules' brow furrowed. The first three plans that sprung to mind all required a hundred feet of rope and a grappling hook, two things they were noticeably lacking. "We'll...think of something. First we have to get down there."

Standing on tip-toe so he could see over the rocks, Lorne didn't need music to pick up on the vibe. He winced. "Oh Sweetie, it doesn't look good."

"I've got to see." Cordelia gritted her teeth and climbed over the rock, ignoring the new crop of scrapes it gave her. This bikini was getting damn old; she was more than ready for a real wardrobe again. On the other side she picked her way carefully over the rubble toward the crack. Hercules heard her, looked up and did a double take.

Correctly interpreting that look, she glared back at him, thinking, _Yes, I'll be quiet, yes, don't fall in, I get that, all right already?_ Reaching the opening, she stepped between the two men, grabbing a rock hard shoulder in each hand to steady herself and cautiously easing forward to look. _They're alive,_ she thought, her heart leaping. _They're way the hell down there, but--_ Then her eyes adjusted all the way and she saw where they were trapped. "Uh oh," she said under her breath. "We're screwed."

Far below a large yellowish shape moved around one of the columns and they all flinched back, then retreated hastily back to the rubble. Cordelia tripped and Hercules caught her arm to steady her. She pulled loose and spoke in frustrated worry, gesturing helplessly back toward the opening into the temple, then at her disordered hair.

Hercules nodded sympathetically. "I know you're upset about your friends...and apparently your hair, but we're going to get them out of this." Looking her in the eye, he told her firmly, "It will be all right."

Understanding the tone if not the words, she looked up at him, eyes brimming. Then she nodded and turned to climb back over the rocks, fumbling for a foot hold.

"I can't think what the pillars were for," Iolaus said quietly, giving Cordelia a leg up back over the ridge. For once he was glad she couldn't understand what they were saying. Green Guy helped her down on the other side, giving her a hug and patting her hair comfortingly. "It seems like a really stupid way to sacrifice people. And how would you get them up there if you couldn't fly?"

"No, not for sacrifices," Hercules said, tapping his chin thoughtfully. Iolaus was right, that would have been damned impractical. "The pillars could have been supporting stairs, or an upper gallery. That means at least one other entrance up here."

"Right. So we find the way in."

Hercules nodded slowly. "The only problem is, it's going to know that we're coming."

Iolaus lifted his brows skeptically. "That's the only problem?"

***

"It's smaller," Gunn said quietly, watching the demon spiral down to the floor of the temple. "Like it's lost weight."

"You're right." Wesley studied it. "How odd. Unless it created more of those sub-creatures." _Hopefully not to go after Cordelia and Lorne_. Leaning cautiously over the edge, he watched the shapeshifter deposit the convertible gently down on the cracked and broken paving stones near the well.

Gunn's mouth twisted. "One was enough, thanks." The many-legged smaller demon was still patrolling between the two pillars, snarling to itself. Gunn frowned at the car, then gave Wesley a worried glance. "What about the ooksbay?"

Wesley blinked. "The what?"

"The books," Gunn repeated, teeth gritted. "In the car."

"I know. That's one reason I wanted it to bring the car to us." He looked back at the shapeshifter, taking a deep breath. As it settled onto the pavement, the sub-creature hurried toward it, moving rapidly over the temple floor. It reached the shapeshifter's side and pressed against it. Wesley and Gunn both watched in unwilling fascination as the creature melded into the shapeshifter's side. The yellow skin shifted fluidly as the larger creature's mass was redistributed throughout its body. "I'm hoping there's a spell in one of them that will alleviate the situation." Possibly by turning a giant shapeshifter inside out.

"Oh. Good thinking."

Having assimilated the other creature again, the shapeshifter lifted into the air. "Here we go," Gunn muttered, pushing to his feet. Wesley stood, throwing a concerned look at the other pillar. Fred was still curled up in the center, pretending to be catatonic, and Angel stood in front of her, watching the demon approach.

It hovered around Angel's pillar thoughtfully, then turned to land effortlessly near Wesley and Gunn. They backed away cautiously, Wesley mindful of the drop behind them.

The demon smiled. "Come here."

_Oh, no_. Wesley eyed it warily. "Ah. Come there?"

"I will take you down to the floor, so you can open my portal."

_Now it's your portal, is it?_ "I'll need the help of the others."

The creature stared at him. There was something almost flirtatious in its expression that he found particularly chilling. Wesley persisted, "We were all together when the portal opened before -- it stands to reason that if we're to open another one, we should try to recreate conditions as closely as possible."

The demon blinked slowly. "Very well."

It lunged for them and Wesley instinctively flung himself down. He heard Gunn give a wild yell and then air rushed around him. Dizzied, he thought almost calmly, _It's flung us off the pillar,_ then he registered the tight grip around his waist. In the next instant it dumped him onto the pavement.

Wesley rolled away from it, breathless, and saw a shaken Gunn stumble to his feet

"Wesley! Gunn!" Angel shouted from above, sounding alarmed.

"We're all right!" Wesley called back, staggering up.

Gunn caught his shoulder to steady him, watching the demon lift back up into the air to head for the other pillar. "It gave in way too easy."

"Yes." Wesley nodded, swallowing in a dry throat. "Yes, it did."

***

"Here," Hercules said, studying the base of the cliff thoughtfully. They were a short distance above the flat area where the shapeshifter had clawed the rock open to get to the underground temple. The terrain changed abruptly here, the cliffs cutting off the little plateau and marking the boundary of the high rocky slopes above.

"There?" Iolaus scratched his chin, doubtful. He had to admit the cliff face looked squared off here, the lines just a little too regular to be natural, but old rockfalls and gravel had covered any evidence of a doorway.

"What are they looking at?" Cordelia demanded. Seeing the vast size of the temple below them and the tall pillars the demon had the others imprisoned on had rattled her more than she wanted to admit. The images that had burst into her head so vividly in her vision had faded to leave her with vague feelings of doom. Big doom. Lots of doom. "What's the deal?"

"I think that's where the way in was, pet." Lorne looked the spot over dubiously. "'Was' being the operative word." He edged back warily as Hercules suddenly leaned down, grabbed a small boulder and lifted it aside in a shower of dust and gravel. "But then again, that may not be a problem."

Hercules dug through the rockfall, rapidly shifting debris and dirt it should have taken ten men and a horse team to move. Years of familiarity making him unimpressed by this display, Iolaus poked around, trying to find the edge of the door or some other sign they were in the right spot. "Here we go," he said suddenly, scraping at the dirt-encrusted rock. "There's metal under here."

They redoubled their efforts and soon uncovered a round door set back into the cliff. Hercules gestured to an inscription that had been embossed into the battered metal. Most of it had been obliterated in some earlier rockfall but what was left was clear. "It's a temple of Gaia. I have the feeling that's not a coincidence."

Iolaus frowned, watching Hercules wrench the door open. Cordelia and Green Guy skipped hastily back as it gave way with a cloud of dust and foul-smelling mold, revealing a dark hole leading back into the mountain. As the oldest and most powerful earth goddess, Gaia had lots of temples and small sanctuaries, some in use and some long abandoned. On the grounds of her temple near Thespiae, Iolaus and Hercules had found a blue swirly doorway to another world. Not storm-generated like the one that led to the Sovereign's World, but a permanent portal, fixed inside an old well. Since Gaia didn't show herself or meddle in mortal affairs -- at least not so that you could tell -- there was no knowing why the portal had been placed near the temple. "Oh, you don't think...."

Hercules nodded grimly, brushing aside a curtain of spiderwebs and ducking under the low lintel as he stepped inside. "If there's a permanent portal here too, I think we found what the shapeshifter is after."

***

The demon brought Angel down, dumping him onto the pavement next to Wesley and Gunn. Wesley exchanged a grim look with Gunn. It had carried them down both at once; it should have brought Fred at the same time.

Instead it hovered above them, studying Angel with the air of a cat watching a beetle and wondering if it was worth the effort to swat it. "You are different."

Angel stood, brushing off his coat, eyeing the creature dryly. "I'm from a different neck of the woods."

The demon didn't reply and Wesley felt a chill. He put on a falsely brisk air, clapping his hands together and saying, "Well, if you bring our other friend down here, we can get started on the portal."

The cold eyes turned to regard him, amused. "I think she can stay up there. She's asleep, she can't help you."

"Damn it," Angel muttered.

Wesley pressed his lips together. The creature obviously knew Fred was only pretending unconsciousness and had decided to use the ruse against her. He tried, "But she was with us when we opened the portal the first time--"

"You can do it without her help." It gestured to the well. From this angle Wesley could see the stone cistern set on a raised dais, the rock chipped and cracked with age. There was writing in an unfamiliar language carved into the side, and the figure carved into the stone wall above it was a circle with more writing in the band. "The inscription explains the problem."

Wesley admitted, "I can't read it."

The demon lifted into the air, one gentle sweep of its wings taking it forward to hover over the well. "It says only Gaia's Blood and Bone may open the portal. I was trying to get a minor god to open it for me."

_A minor god?_ Wesley thought. He exchanged a puzzled look with Gunn but the creature was continuing, "But since you are an otherworld sorcerer, you should be able to open it just as well." It reached down to the cover, lifting the heavy stone up and setting it aside. Wesley took a cautious step up onto the dais, Angel and Gunn following him. He could see the well was filled with still dark water, placed so it held a dark reflection of the circle of writing on the wall above it. A strong odor of stale water wafted up from the surface.

"Right," Wesley said under his breath. He flicked a glance at Gunn. "I'll get the books and we'll get started."

"The books?" Angel asked, throwing a wary look at the demon. "Is that a good idea?"

"You got a better one?" Gunn asked him through gritted teeth.

"Good point."

***

"This sucks," Cordelia muttered under her breath. The way down was a winding, dark, moldy nasty passage with a bad habit of suddenly opening out into empty abysses and breath-taking drops into blackness. They had a torch to see by -- Hercules had paused to fish it out of a pack and Iolaus had held it for him as he struck the big metal and leather thing he wore on his wrist against the wall until the sparks ignited it. But things chittered at the edge of the light, making her skin creep. Iolaus was walking just in front of her and Cordelia had to conquer the urge to hold on to the back of his tatty leather vest, like a little girl in an amusement park spook house.

Lorne kept up a low background monologue that at least interfered with Cordelia concentrating on how horrible her surroundings were and how unlikely it was that they were going to get everyone out alive. "Oh, this is disgusting. I know I'm related to creatures that call dank slimy holes in the ground home but I get twitchy if my cleaning service leaves dustbunnies under the bed. And for decor I really prefer deco to dungeon--"

Ahead of them Hercules stopped. He handed the torch back to Lorne, who shied away, then realized what he wanted and took the burning wood gingerly. Hercules eased forward out of the circle of light, Iolaus with him, and Cordelia dimly saw them both crouch down by something in the wall.

"What are we looking at?" she asked, her nerves jumping.

Lorne was frowning in concentration, head cocked. "Honey, I think I just heard Wesley. There's one heck of an echo, but I'm sure it was him. I doubt there's more than one human running around here speaking English with a sexy British accent."

"Wait here." Cordelia edged forward into the dark, finding her way to the two men by the smell of masculine sweaty leather. This close she could see they had found a crack in the wall and were looking down through it. As she reached them she heard the voices too, distorted by the echo. Peering over Hercules' head, she could just catch a glimpse of the big cavern. She waited impatiently for her turn, thumping Hercules in the back just to remind him that she was there. He ignored her with an annoyingly high level of self control. Finally he shifted aside for her to look.

She crouched down, peering out. "Well?" Lorne whispered from behind her nervously. "The suspense is killing me."

"They're still alive," Cordelia reported in relief. "They're down on the floor, near this big round thing with water in it." She didn't like the look of that. It was in the part of the temple where you would expect the altar to be. "I see Wesley, Angel, Gunn...wait, where's Fred? Oh, she's still up on the pillar." Cordelia bit her lip. "That's not good." The demon was hovering lazily over the round stone water thingy, talking to the three men, and Cordelia realized with a sudden shock that she could catch a word here and there. She listened harder. The thing was speaking English, distorted by the echo in the big chamber.

Hercules nudged her in the arm and she hissed, "Stop it," thinking he was trying her own thumping trick on her. After some exasperated gesturing from both him and Iolaus, she realized they wanted her to translate what the demon was saying. She listened again, frowning, cursing the echo, but after a moment she got the gist. "It wants then to open a portal. An interdimensional portal." She turned to the two men in frustration. "And how the hell am I going to explain that to you with pointing?" But after she made swirly gestures and Lorne added sound effects, both men got it, and they didn't look too surprised. She knew they had known all about portals, from what Xander and the others had told her, but it was like they had been expecting to find one down here.

"But we thought the shapeshifter came through a blue swirly that formed during that storm five days ago," Iolaus said as they retreated back from the crevice. That was when it had first started killing villagers down in the river valley, masquerading as a giant. "So it came through the portal in this temple instead and we just missed its trail? Then how come it looked like it dug its way in, not out?"

"No, no, I think we're right about when and where it came through," Hercules said thoughtfully, looking back at the crevice. "But there must be something special about this portal."

Iolaus nodded. The one at the temple in Thespiae had been sealed off, at least until something, maybe one of the minotaurs, had broken the cover. "These are doorways Gaia -- or whoever -- doesn't want anybody to open," he said uneasily.

Hercules' face was still in the torchlight, his brows drawn together in worry. "Uh huh."

"We need a plan of some sort. Something strategic but not involving a lot of personal danger," Lorne was saying.

"Okay. Plan, plan. We get in there -- somehow -- and...." Cordelia bit her lip. She and Lorne stared blankly at each other.

Tired of waiting, Iolaus prompted, "Well?"

Hercules nodded slowly. "I've got a plan."

"Okay."

"It's not a good one."

"Right."

"And," Hercules turned to regard Green Guy thoughtfully, "It depends on him."

"Oh." Iolaus looked at Cordelia's friend. Green Guy saw they were both staring at him and smiled nervously. "You're absolutely sure about that?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

***

Sitting on the cracked pavement near the car, Wesley paged through the books rapidly, looking for something, anything he could use against the shapechanger. The Trionic the three volumes were written in required him to shift from one book to another when the rhythm of the sentence structure signalled a change, and it made the text incredibly difficult to skim. Especially with a demon breathing down his neck. Even a demon now currently human. "Angel, that's not helping."

"Sorry." Angel stepped back a pace.

Leaning against the car, Gunn lifted a brow, eyeing Angel challengingly. "What? Life and death look a little different for you from a human perspective?"

"Being eaten looks about the same." Angel threw a glance up at the shapechanger where it hovered in the air above the temple well.

Defying gravity, its wings moved lazily, the vanes and fans around its deceptively pure face drifting in the air. The sun had shifted towards late afternoon and the shafts of light penetrated the openings in the cavern roof at a different angle, turning the upper half of the walls and pillars to red and yellow and deepening the blue shadows in the lower half of the cavern. By some ancient design, the sunlight now glowed down on the well, illuminating the writing above it and making it an island of light in the dark space.

"You two could stop quibbling and think about how we're going to get Fred down," Wesley said tightly, keeping his voice low. "If we're still alive by that point."

"That is telling you how to open my portal?" From above their heads, the demon's seductive voice held a razor edge of impatience.

"Yes, yes, it is," Wesley hurriedly called up to it, his nerves jumping. "But it's very complicated. Just be a moment and I should have it." The only thing remotely helpful he had found so far was a minor obfuscation spell, which might slow the creature down momentarily but would surely make it that much more angry when it recovered. _We need something fatal_, Wesley thought, wiping sweat from his brow, _Immediately fatal_. The next page held a promisingly destructive spell formula but as he followed it to the next book he saw it required the blood of a three-headed Pylean gruat. Cursing under his breath, he looked up, realizing that Gunn and Angel had gone uncharacteristically silent. Gunn stared at the paving stones between his feet and Angel looked straight ahead, his gaze so vague that his eyes were unfocused. "What?" Wesley asked, frowning.

"Just thinking hard about how to help the nice demon open that portal," Gunn muttered, flashing him a warning look.

"Oh." Wesley went back to the book, every nerve alert. They had seen something. Cordelia and Lorne, attempting some kind of suicidal rescue attempt? He wasn't sure if he was glad for the chance or angry at their impetuousness. But the truth was that if somebody didn't think of something soon, they were all going to die.

Husky with rage, the demon's voice snapped, "You betray me."

Wesley looked up, startled. As angry as it sounded, there was a pleased light in its faceted eyes, as if it really would rather kill them than complete its plan, and it was eager to have the chance. "No! I've almost got it, really," he protested, waving the book vaguely. "The calculations I have to do, to take account of the different structures of the dimension--"

"He's doing his best!" Angel shouted, trying to distract the creature.

The shapechanger lifted up into the air, darting menacingly toward Fred's pillar. "No more games, open the portal now! Or I'll eat the female."

Hercules and Iolaus crept across the deep shadow of the cavern floor toward the well, which was lit by sunlight pouring down from above like the stage at the Theater of Dionysus. Iolaus held his breath until they reached the relative cover of the two columns. He was fairly certain two of the men standing between the well and the big metal object had spotted them, but neither had betrayed their presence to the shapeshifter by reacting. Now if Green Guy would just do his part. As they paused in the deeper shadow at the base of the columns, he threw an impatient glance at Hercules, mouthing, "What's taking them so long?"

Hercules shook his head grimly. Cordelia had seemed confident that she could follow the passage around to a crack nearer the shapeshifter's position at the front of the temple, but maybe Cordelia just seemed confident of everything. Explaining the plan had strained both his and Iolaus' pantomiming skills to the utmost, but they seemed to have gotten the essentials across. At least, he hoped so.

He saw the shapeshifter snarl angrily, then it shot upward, heading for the top of the column above their heads. The one the woman was still trapped on. "Too late," Hercules said under his breath. He raised his voice to a shout, "Hey, we're over here! Are you as blind as you are ugly?"

Halting, the creature twisted in mid-air, eyes alight as it looked for them, its expression caught between rage and triumph. It growled, then twisted its body, splitting in two. Half landed with a splat on the pavement and the other winged half shot toward them.

They bolted back to the base of the column, Iolaus flattening his back against it. "I am never getting used to that," he muttered.

"I hope you don't have to." Hercules glanced up and thought he spotted a white face looking down at them from the very top of the column. _Note to self: don't knock this one down_.

The shapeshifter paused, snarling in frustration, hovering just out of sword reach, unable to get above them for a strike with its claws because of the bulky column and unwilling to come closer and give them the advantage. These creatures were hard to kill with just a sword, but this one had lost a lot of its mass already, and dividing again had made it much smaller. _And hopefully more vulnerable_, Iolaus thought. He saw the other half had sprouted legs and a wide fanged mouth, but it charged away to take up a position near the three men at the front of the temple.

Temporarily thwarted, the shapeshifter visibly reined in its temper. Its face shifted, losing some of its definition, and it purred in Greek, "I knew you would come. But I don't need you anymore." It gestured back toward the men near the well. "These mortals can open the portal for me."

_Guessed right on that one_, Hercules thought grimly. "If all you want to do is to leave this world, then we don't want to stop you--"

"Yeah, don't let the gate hit you on the ass on the way out," Iolaus contributed

"--But that's not all you want, is it?"

"Oh, I don't want to leave." It smiled in deep satisfaction, its wings floating up around it, eerie in the deep shadow. "Somewhere among the worlds, something powerful has stirred, has tried to break down the world walls, to make its own passage out of the place where it was imprisoned. It has made all the world walls weak, but only for a short time. Already you have delayed me, but not long enough."

It looked back at the well, its eyes flashing yellow in the dimness. "I sensed the power of this portal as soon as I entered this world. The other portals are weak and close quickly. When this one is opened and I enter it, I will be able to keep it open, to take it to my world and bring all my clan here." It looked down at them again, eyes wide. "Where the hunting is good."

"Those were the men we saw in the woods, before the demon attacked us," Wesley murmured to Gunn. The creature was speaking a different language to them and he couldn't understand it.

Gunn nodded, eyeing the sub-creature the shapechanger had left to guard them. It was easily twice the size of the car, apparently eyeless, and its jaw was wide enough to swallow one of them whole. "We got to do something now. Any ideas?"

Wesley shook his head grimly. "The only usable spell I could find was--"

Across the temple the winged half of the shapechanger suddenly shot into the air, reaching for Fred atop the pillar. The sub-creature suddenly spoke, making them all flinch in surprise. The voice that came from that fanged mouth was the shapechanger's, speaking English: "No more delay! Open the portal now, or I'll take her."

Gunn and Angel looked at Wesley helplessly. Not sure which half did the hearing, Wesley shouted, "Stop! Stop! Leave her alone, and I'll open the portal for you." He started up the steps to the well.

Following him, Angel asked, low-voiced, "Are you bluffing?"

"No. It said the portal needs Gaia's Blood or Bone to open," Wesley explained in a harsh whisper. The last thing they needed was to lose their only bargaining point to the demon. He reached the stone wall of the well, leaning over to look inside. The water was dark, a stale, aged odor drifting up from it. "But Gaia isn't just an earth goddess, she's the earth personified. In some versions of the myth, Darkness created Chaos, and Chaos created Gaia, then mated with her in order to give birth to a number of other beings, from which all life is descended." Wesley looked around, spotted a sprig of fern caught on Gunn's sweater, and plucked it off. "By that theory, it isn't just gods that are Gaia's Blood and Bone, but every living thing in this universe. I could open it with this."

Gunn took a deep breath. "But I have a feeling it would be a real bad idea."

Wesley looked back. He couldn't see Fred from this angle but the demon must be hovering just above her. "I know."

"Dammit, we need to get it back down here." Iolaus leaned out to see the shapeshifter. It was hovering within easy reach of the top of the column, but hadn't grabbed the woman yet. Iolaus stepped away from the base, tossing his sword to his partner.

Hercules caught it, his expression somehow reminding Iolaus that he was closely related to a thundergod, but he didn't give voice to any absurd injunctions to be careful.

Iolaus backed away, his eyes on the hovering creature. As alert to movement as a hawk, it spotted him, its eyes glowing. "Come on," he muttered under his breath. "You've been chasing us for days, you know you want--" It dived toward him, a big yellow blur of rage and hunger. "Yow!"

"But acoustically that wasn't a good spot, I could tell from their voices," Lorne protested as Cordelia dragged him relentlessly down the dark passage. "It wouldn't have worked!"

"Okay, okay." The torch was starting to gutter and all the craggy passage walls looked alike down here; Cordelia was sick with the thought that they might already be too late. Then she saw light ahead, outlining another crack in the cave wall. "Here's another one, try here!" Cordelia gave Lorne an urgent push toward it.

"Now?" Lorne leaned forward to peer out the crack. "Oh, definitely now!"

The piercing shriek rang through the cavern, catching Iolaus in mid-dive. He hit the ground, his ears ringing, in time to see the shapeshifter convulse in the air not ten feet above him.

The shriek cut off but the echoes took it up, bouncing it off the walls in a terrible cacophony. Still deafened, Iolaus scrambled back. The shapeshifter twisted toward Hercules, its mouth open in a silent snarl, just as the demigod threw the sword like a javelin. The weapon struck the creature in the roof of the mouth, driving deeply into its skull.

Iolaus pushed to his feet, watching as the creature writhed in the air. It straightened suddenly, eyes wild, and shot toward the column. _Oh shit_, Iolaus had time to think just before it struck the stone with a crack that he could hear even over the echo. Backpedaling, Iolaus yelled an instinctive warning to Hercules.

Hercules dodged away as the shapeshifter bounced off the column. An instant later Iolaus realized he was the one who should have been dodging as the creature hurtled toward him. He made a wild dive for safety but a heavy weight slammed him into the pavement.

Wesley staggered as a sound pierced his skull. He looked up as the sub-creature roared in agony and bounded toward them. Wesley lifted a hand, muttering the words of the obfuscation spell from the Trionic books. He couldn't hear himself over the echo but the creature halted abruptly, shaking its blunt head in confusion.

Wesley saw the shapechanger across the cavern drop near the ground again, striking at the two men there. "We need to--" he began, starting forward, but Gunn grabbed his arm.

"It's not working, look!" The obfuscation spell had only lasted a moment as the sub-creature started to stalk forward, its huge jaws working. _Goddammit_, Wesley thought, frustrated past bearing. _That's the last time I try one of these sodding worthless Pylean spells--_

Angel dug in his coat pocket, pulling out a set of keys and tossing them to Gunn, yelling, "Get the car!" He dashed down the steps and to the side, waving his arms to attract the creature's attention.

"The car?" Wesley stared. "Oh, the car!" Gunn was already bolting down the steps, heading for the vehicle. The creature charged for Angel and Wesley plunged forward, shouting and waving. It turned back for him, snarling, suddenly way too close, and he slid to halt, backing away.

He heard an engine rev behind him and scrambled out of the way as the convertible shot past, Gunn at the wheel. The car struck the creature head on.

Cursing the shapeshifter and fate in general, Hercules dodged as chunks of stone slammed into the pavement. The top half of the column crumbled and toppled and he spotted a white shape tumbling off. He danced back and forth, gauging speed, distance, then reached out and caught the girl, going nearly to his knees with the force of her fall. Lumps of rock rained down around them.

Straightening up with a gasp, he stared down at her. The girl blinked big eyes at him, her pale face framed in a tangle of dark hair. "That was close," he told her, then looked around. "Iolaus?"

No answer. His chest tightening, Hercules set the girl on her feet. They were surrounded by the scattered remnants of the shattered column and under any one of them could be.... "Iolaus!"

The girl pulled at his arm, pointing toward the shapeshifter. It was crumpled on the ground a short distance away, its wings broken, its head twisted half under its body. It was still shuddering faintly with death throes. Or were those death throes? No, too localized for death throes. Torn between relief and alarm, he charged for the creature.

Hercules hauled at a bent wing, trying to get a good grip on it. He hadn't touched one of the dead shapeshifters before and the unexpectedly spongy texture of the sallow flesh made his skin creep. He adjusted his hold and shoved the dead weight up.

Iolaus scrambled out, staggering to his feet, shoving his hair out of his eyes. Breathing hard, he gasped, "That...that was disgusting."

Hercules dropped the creature, backing away, rubbing his hands off on his pants. "You all right?" he demanded.

"No." Iolaus scrubbed at his bare arms, trying to get rid of the memory of the sickly texture of the creature's skin. He shook himself all over, then realized there was a young woman dressed in a brief white shift standing at his elbow, staring at him with tentative curiosity. "Is that her? How'd you get her down?"

Hercules pointed up. Iolaus looked for the column and saw it was only a jagged fragment about half its original height, surrounded by smashed stone blocks. Nodding, he turned back to Hercules. "Good catch."

An unearthly growl and a thump caught their attention.

The convertible's grillwork jammed in the spongy flesh of the sub-creature. Still alive, it snarled silently, twisting its head to bite the car, vestigial arms sprouting rapidly out of its sides. Wesley swore, grabbing for a rock. The car's engine strained as Gunn threw it into reverse to free it. The engine died abruptly and Gunn cursed, trying frantically to restart it.

Suddenly on the other side of the writhing creature, Wesley saw the bigger native man, holding an impossibly large stone. He slammed the stone down on the creature's head and yellow fluid gushed out from beneath it. Bruised, scraped, and glasses askew, Wesley stumbled to his feet, staring in amazement. The creature's movements ceased.

"Hey, we did it!" Cordelia climbed awkwardly out of the narrow crack in the cavern wall, stumbling on the uneven stone pavement. Getting out of the nasty passage and into the relatively fresh air of the big cave was a huge relief and she took her first deep breath in what felt like hours.

Lorne clambered after her, brushing cobwebs off his suit, commenting, "Sometimes I even amaze myself. Flowers and candy can be left at the stage door."

"You did great, Sweetie," she told him, squinting in the dimness to see where everybody was. Hercules and Iolaus were near the demon thingy where it was squished between the car and the big rock. Fred was with them, squatting down apparently trying to get a look at the creature's mushed head.

"Hey, it's Cordelia!" Standing on the trunk of the car, Gunn called to her, "You're alive! Where the hell--"

"Me alive? We've been rescuing you guys!" She reached Iolaus first, throwing her arms around him and getting lifted off her feet in return. "Thank you," she breathed in his ear, suddenly overcome with the thought of how badly this could have turned out. He set her down and gave her a quizzical look. Wiping her eyes and reminding herself this was no time to get girly, she looked around, seeing Hercules was still prodding the dead demon suspiciously with his boot. Impulsively she gave him a hug too, startling him, then retreated hastily. "Ick, you've got goo all over you." She brushed at her top. "And that surprises me not."

"Fred, are you all right?" Angel demanded, circling around the convertible where it was still jammed into the dead demon thingy.

Straightening up, Fred nodded. She was doing her deer-caught-in-headlights look, but otherwise seemed fine. "He caught me," she explained, pointing at Hercules. "He's very large."

"I'm sure he is, honey," Lorne told her, folding his arms and surveying the scene with satisfaction. "I'd say the fat lady just sang for this diabolical demon plot, whatever it was."

"He caught you?" Limping up to them, Wesley asked helplessly, "Cordelia, who-- how--"

"You're welcome!" Cordelia said pointedly. "Jeeze, the gratitude is just making me blush. Listen, I know where we are." She turned to the others as they gathered around. "Back in Sunnydale, there was a time we were attacked by a giant snake--"

"Yes, Cordelia, Angel and I were there," Wesley interrupted impatiently, "But who--"

"No, not the giant snake at graduation!" She gestured impatiently. Time later to reflect how wrong your life had gone when your friends were confused by which giant demon snake you meant. "This was an interdimensional snake and when it ate you, it took you to this world. I didn't get eaten so I didn't get to go, but they told me all about it and these are the guys they met. Hercules and Iolaus."

Wesley stared, comprehension dawning on his face. "Yes, yes, you're right. I read Giles' account of it. It was fascinating."

Cordelia snorted. "That was the edited for television version."

"What interdimensional snake?" Angel interrupted. "Why didn't I know about this?"

Cordelia opened her mouth, thought of some of the details Xander had related to her, and decided to be merciful. She made her eyes wide and blank. "Uh, I don't know?"

Watching thoughtfully, Hercules commented, "She's not going to tell us who they are, is she?"

Iolaus shrugged, brows lifted. "Apparently not."

Lost in thought, Wesley muttered, "My God, that would explain everything."

"Then share, English," Gunn said impatiently. "We ain't getting any younger here."

"But that's the thing," Cordelia told him, seizing on it as a distraction. "We just might be."

"What?"

Taking up the explanation, Wesley told him, "Giles theorized that this is the core universe, the centerpoint of creation for all other universes. Things that happen here echo down through all other worlds, and people, events, creatures that are just legends in our own world exist here."

"He sounds like Giles," Iolaus told Hercules. "He must be the sorcerer."

Hercules pointed out, "He's got the little glass things on his eyes, too."

Wesley looked thoughtfully at Angel. "Since we come from a lesser universe, we can be physically altered by the influence of this one. The others were only here for a few days, but Giles found his eyesight improved to the point where he didn't need his glasses, their injuries healed within hours, and Buffy's strength increased."

Cordelia triumphantly gestured to Angel. "Hence the breathing."

Wesley nodded, telling Angel, "Perhaps your demon simply has no influence over you here. Because of your soul, you became fully human. Or...." He frowned, folding his arms. "According to Giles, the closest analog to vampires they encountered here were called bacchae. Most of them had been living people, under the command of the god Bacchus. When Bacchus was killed, they were restored to normal."

"But then it's not permanent." Angel shook his head slightly. "Buffy, Giles and the others, when they came back, they didn't.... "

"No, they didn't." Cordelia watched him with some sympathy. _It's like a really twisted sequel to Pinocchio. Go home and you're not a real boy anymore_. She had to admit that it would have been wonderful to go back and work at Angel Investigations without the shadow of soul-losing, Angelus, and nasty death looming over everything. _No more weekly reviews of the emergency plan for staking your co-worker. I could live without that_.

"Why didn't it do anything to Lorne?" Angel persisted.

They all looked at Lorne, who smiled winningly. Wesley took a deep breath, shrugging. "Well, for a demon, Lorne is, essentially, harmless."

Lorne nodded. "I have to agree with you there."

"But what about--"

"Damn, Angel, it's not all about you." Gunn turned impatiently to Cordelia. "Do we know how this Giles guy and the others got back?"

"The snake spins around and you jump through and that takes you home," Cordelia explained, frowning. "But we don't have the snake or the snake-spinning spell."

"So whatever controls the portals in this world decided Lorne was more human than I was?" Angel asked. He looked around, as if hoping for a rebuttal. Wesley cleared his throat, Gunn lifted a brow, and Cordelia folded her arms and stared meaningfully at him. Lorne patted him on the shoulder. "There, there."

"They argue a lot," Iolaus observed wryly.

"Uh huh." It was giving Hercules a headache.

"They keep mentioning Giles. You think they know how to get home on their own?"

"Oh, I hope so."

"To get back to the central issue--" Wesley began.

"Thank you," Gunn added firmly.

"I think we can still try the same spell we used to escape -- that is, leave -- Pylea." Wesley eyed the well portal thoughtfully. "This is obviously an interdimensional hotspot as well, probably a very powerful one. And if I'm remembering Giles' account correctly, the spell itself should be more powerful here."

Lorne's brow creased worriedly. "Powerful as in getting us home lickety-split, or powerful as in Wesley mispronounces one word, portal go boom with us in it?"

Wesley bit his lip, considering. "Ah.... Possibly both."

***

Standing at what was hopefully a safe distance, they watched the strangers prepare to leave. It appeared they had their own way of opening a portal to get back to their home, which was a relief; Hercules felt the temple's portal probably didn't open anywhere rational people would want to go.

The Giles-like sorcerer Wesley -- they had figured out that was his name when Cordelia kept yelling it at him -- had tried to talk to them, but Cordelia had driven him off and then given them what she probably thought were significant grimaces and winks. "I think she doesn't want us to talk to them," Iolaus had said finally, struggling to interpret her bizarre behavior. "Any idea why?"

Hercules shrugged helplessly. "Your guess is as good as mine." If she had a good reason, it was probably best to go along with her.

They had managed to remove the big metal thing from the dead shapeshifter though it wasn't easy, and some bits just wouldn't come out of the front part. Returning seem to involve them all climbing into it while arguing a lot, Wesley gesturing emphatically with a set of parchments bound in leather. Finally the dark-skinned warrior, who was louder than anyone else, managed to make everyone shut up except Cordelia, and the sorcerer began to read from the parchments.

Arms folded, Iolaus said, "It's too bad, since she was your type, Herc." He shook his head regretfully. "Beautiful, nice figure, knows how to order a demigod around--"

"Stop it." Hercules glared at him, self-conscious because his thoughts had been straying in the same direction and mildly paranoid that Cordelia might be able to tell this just by looking at him.

Light burst into the dark temple, swirling colors forming a whirlwind just above the ground. Having had bad experiences with being sucked involuntarily into portals, both Hercules and Iolaus bolted back another twenty paces without having to discuss it. The big metal thing roared and Hercules looked back in time to see it leap for the center of the light. It entered the blaze of color and Cordelia turned and waved at them. Then it vanished.

The whirlwind spun and shrank in on itself, disappearing with a faint pop of displaced air.

Hercules let out a breath. "I hope they make it home."

"They seemed like they knew what they were doing. Sort of. Though it would have been nice to know why they were here." Iolaus stretched, rolling his shoulders and rubbing the back of his neck. "Get back to the surface, make a camp, sleep, eat. Possibly not in that order."

"Dig your sword out of the shapeshifter's skull." Hercules started up the stone steps to the well.

Iolaus grimaced, following him. "I forgot about that."

"And I have no idea where Cordelia left our packs." Hercules lifted the stone cover to put it back into place, but froze as he turned to the well. A sprig of fern had fallen in and where it floated in the dark water, images formed. Shapes, colors, little moving figures. He saw distorted, monstrous creatures, some like the shapeshifter, others far worse. In the center he could barely make out what looked like a skeletal metal tower with a white light blazing near its top. A ripple crossed the water and it all vanished, leaving the well dark and still again. "Weird," he commented, vaguely troubled, lowering the heavy stone cover and nudging it into place. It settled with a thump and gentle puff of dust and moss.

"What?" Iolaus demanded. "What did you see?"

"Nothing good, whatever it was." He dropped an arm around Iolaus' shoulders, giving him an absent-minded hug. "Let's get out of here."

**end**


End file.
